More Than You Know
by shinedown
Summary: Ever since making the choice to become a Dark Magician, everything went downhill for Aisha. Now a Void Princess with her only support now stripped away from her, she decides enough is enough.
1. When All You're Given Is Hate

A/N: ahaha…I really need to slow down and learn to focus on one thing at a time, but it's hard when I'm constantly getting inspired to write something else. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

'**Til next time**

**~shine**

More Than You Know

**~When All You're Given Is Hate~**

Frowning slightly at her reflection in the mirror, Aisha sized herself up. While not the prettiest girl alive, she supposed she was rather cute. Her hair, violet in color, hung freely down her back when unbound, ending just past her shoulders in waves. When she did style her hair, she always kept it in pigtails, tied by dark purple ribbons. Half-lidded violet eyes stared back at her with some measure of self-loathing, a slight scowl etched onto her face, baring perfectly white teeth. Casting her eyes down at her figure, her self-esteem plummeted.

She wasn't the bustiest girl alive; she still couldn't compare to Rena, and that was a rather unfair comparison. Not that she wanted to, of course. The last thing she wanted was to be ogled by guys she hardly knew or liked. Her figure was lean and fit for a girl her age, well toned and still showing curves in all the right places. However, she realized that girls her age didn't wear the clothes she did, even if they were forced upon her by a powerful demon as proof of their contract. Even if he was rather cute, he could be really pushy at times, and Aisha hated it. But there wasn't much she could do.

As a result, she was teased nonstop by Eljerk, Rena often threw furtive glances and sighed when she thought Aisha wasn't looking, and Chung, bless his soul, tried talking to Angkor every chance he got to ask him to let her change. This usually got the young prince blasted in the face with a dark fireball, but he didn't give up. Raven looked away whenever he spoke to Aisha, and Eve looked disapproving of her attire but learned to accept it. Scowling even more, she punched the mirror as hard as she could, ignoring the cuts on her knuckles and the shocked cries.

Tears streamed down her face freely as she numbly let herself be tended to. She didn't even bother to pay attention to who was there with her. She didn't care. Perched on her shoulder, Angkor stared at her worriedly but she ignored him too. Why should he concern himself with her emotional state when it was his fault she was like this in the first place? Aisha brushed him off, ignoring his protests and stood up to leave, only to be pushed back into her seat by a strong hand.

"Aisha, what's wrong?" She heard the person say. Frowning when she recognized the voice, she tried again to get away, but when they pushed her back down, she teleported. "Aisha! Damn it all! What's your problem?!"

"Since when did you care what my "problem" was anyway?" Aisha shot back, glaring at the red head furiously. Taken aback by her reaction and at a loss for words, Elsword stood there staring. Aisha scoffed. "I thought so. You don't care at all do you?"

"W-what? What's gotten into you? Of course I care!"

"Why? You never seemed to care before."

"Why would you think that? What have I done—" Elsword cut himself off, realization hitting him. He lowered his gaze. "Oh."

"Yes, Elfail, "oh" is definitely the correct response. Congratulations, now you're one step closer to graduating from heartless jerk to clueless asshole." Aisha spoke bitterly, turning on her heels and storming away. Elsword blinked and stood there for a moment before cursing under his breath and going after her.

… … …

Aisha ignored the looks of disapproval she got from the people of Velder. Although it stung that they still didn't trust her, even after she had helped protect them from the demon horde, she no longer cared. Shops that were previously open closed their doors to her, children fled from her in terror, and when a ball bounced along her path, if she offered it back, the children merely ran home screaming. Scowling bitterly and burning the ball in her hands, Aisha left town, fresh tears forming in her eyes as she heard curses thrown at her back, and sighs of relief when she finally left.

She hated people. Their petty superstitions irked her to no end, and they judged her based on word of mouth or by her attire. Several times she had been assaulted when she refused to accept offers of money from drunken men in exchange for lewd acts that both disgusted and appalled her. Their drunken laughter and lecherous smiles only served to lower her already crumbling sense of self-esteem, and yet when guards came to break up the commotion, no one ever believed her to be the victim. It was always her fault and she should "learn to dress better". If all she would get from them was hate and fear, then so be it. She was tired of trying to please them and make them see her in a different light.

After all, why should a princess of darkness seek the approval of those far beneath her?

Wishing she hadn't pushed Angkor away, Aisha turned back towards the inn, but thought better of it. He would come find her when he wanted her for something. Instead, she summoned her staff and floated away.

She didn't know where she was going, exactly; she wasn't sure she would have gone to any of the places she had in mind in the first place anyway. She let the breeze carry her, flying high over the houses of the Residential Area, past Hope Bridge and high above the Palace, stopping only once to glare down at the young princess waving excitedly for her to come over. She ignored the girl, going back onto her unknown path.

She came at last to the ruined Southern Gate, where the signs of battle had yet to be cleared away. She remembered the struggle to defeat Chloe's evil beast quite well; the terror she felt that day could still be felt even now. If it hadn't been for Raven's quick thinking and the creature's lacking intelligence, they'd have been crushed flat beneath its feet. With a well-timed Shockwave and Aisha's Phantom Breath spell to leech away the mana the creature had been gathering for a powerful laser blast, Elsword And Chung would not have been able to get close enough to deal any damage. Even Rena's arrows and Eve's robot servants didn't seem to be helping at all.

Why she had come here, she didn't know, but at least it gave her some time alone to reflect and think.

Sitting down in the shade of some rubble, Aisha drew her knees up to her chest and cried. For years she had struggled with rebuilding her lost magical abilities, for years she suffered the teasing glares of her peers when news came that she was no longer the best of the best of her year and beyond. When they had found out that her skill now rivaled that of a toddler's, all the people she thought had respected her had turned on her, sneering and pushing her around and bullying her. When she ran away, she knew they were taunting her, calling her worse names than just "coward".

When she joined the El Search Party, she sought to better herself, to expand her already vast knowledge and shape it into something more. To become someone that no one would ever make fun of again. That was before she met Elsword, and every day since then had been amusing to say the least. When she made the choice to study dark magic, he didn't judge her. In fact, he seemed to understand her need to grow stronger and had sought her out to learn magic.

Dumber than a rolling stone though he was, she was surprised at how much effort he put into everything he did. From simple things like summoning fire into his fist to incantations and formulas, he learned slowly but his ability to apply what he learned was nothing short of prodigious. From then on, rather than forcing him to study on his own until he sufficiently deciphered the text, she simply read it aloud to him, had him practice and then taught him how to understand the text later.

They had grown pretty close since then, and she had started to like him more and more, she admitted, though grudgingly. He did have his moments when he was pretty cool, and sticking up for her was definitely a huge plus in her eyes. He was being manly and sweet, and she couldn't help but fall for him.

However, later in Altera when they'd had their first big fight, things went downhill from there. She didn't know why he had been so cruel to her, and she didn't know why she had struck him so hard, but since then they'd been at odds yet again and she stopped helping him. He ignored her when she spoke to him, and she would just hit him if he got too close. When their eyes met, she could see the days that had been, the times when she had almost blurted to the clueless brat how she felt. Days that would never again come to pass.

When she was approached by Allegro with the chance to grow her powers yet again, Aisha walked with him, leaving behind what she thought had been an apologetic Elsword. His face changed to a scowl soon after and he turned away. Aisha wanted to scream at him at that moment, but chose not to.

Allegro had told her that if she wanted to increase her affinity for the dark arts, she would need to begin by absorbing darkness into her body. For three days she had sat and meditated, doing exactly as he said, but in that time, she had met Angkor, a powerful demon who was sealed away by a strange seal. She could feel elemental energies radiating from it, and while her first thought was to ignore him, he'd made her an offer she certainly didn't want to turn down. For his freedom, he would give her all the power she wanted. To control the shadows and all who dwelled within as their princess. She released the seal and accepted the deal. Not long after, she felt the near endless stream of dark energy and El as promised and as an extra…detail as he called it, her clothes had changed, and so too did her nightmares begin.

Aisha sighed. She tried to hold her head high and feel proud of the choice she had made, but what pride was there to feel when everyone looked at you with hatred and prejudice? When she only meant to help, they flung holy water at her and held up crosses to push her back. Such things didn't affect her, mind you, but she didn't want to bring more trouble to herself than she already faced. Enraged by the insults and curses thrown at her daily, Aisha was quickly driven to regret her choices, and deeper into despair. The one person, who had chosen to forego any respect he could have gained had he not stuck up for her, her only guardian against injustice, now sat idly by and left her defenseless. Chung could do little to abate the people's ridiculous fears and rumors, and even Rena's fury did little to help. To them she was like a plague, one that must be stamped out before it spread.

Never had Aisha felt more hurt and betrayed in all her life when she looked to Elsword for help, only to be rejected so cruelly. His eyes simply stared at her, fixing her with their indifferent gaze and she'd had her answer. He didn't care. She was on her own now. Had Aisha not chosen to keep her cool and pretend that their words didn't hurt her, she would have crumbled on the spot. She merely did everything she could for the Velder Garrison without being asked, using her spells to do no harm to whatever knights were in the way, foolishly blocking her from doing her job.

And now, here she was, broken. Her strength sapped away, her confidence gone and her many faults laid bare. Broken hearted, broken spirited, crushed. Perhaps Angkor had been right in the beginning. Once she made her choice, there was no going back. What peace she had gained in her life, what harmony there had been and understanding she had reached would forever be gone if she were to take her place as Princess of the Void. Had she not been so foolish and obsessed with power, perhaps she wouldn't have had to endure this pain. It was her own damn fault for being so stupid and hard headed. Perhaps she deserved what she got after all.

"There you are," the familiar spoke, the sound of beating wings brought her out of her misery for a few moments as she looked up. The fat purple and white bat looked at her with worry, settling himself on her arms and folding his wings about him. "You know, your friends have been looking all over for you."

"Let them look. If they cared as much as you think, they'd have found me by now." Aisha muttered darkly. Angkor sighed, waddling up the length of her arm and dropping into her lap to rest. "Why are you here, anyway? Aren't you supposed to be trying to bury yourself in Rena's cleavage by now?"

"I was worried about you more. It's rare that you leave without me, so I had a feeling something was up." The familiar answered. Aisha shrugged. "What's on your mind?"

"You can read my mind. You should already know."

"I'm respecting your privacy and asking, rather than invading your thoughts for once. Even I can be a gentleman, you brat." Angkor huffed. His antics didn't amuse Aisha, however, but she was grateful that he didn't start reading her mind. "Is it about that Elsword kid?"

"Why would I think about him?"

"Because you still love him."

"Wha—"

"I may be old, but you humans are easy to read, child. You still look to him for support. You still want to be near him. You love him." Aisha blushed but said nothing. Sighing, Angkor burrowed deeper into Aisha's lap. "I'll never understand you humans. You contradict yourselves so often, it's amazing you can tell your head from your ass. You love him, yet you want nothing to do with him. He blames himself for your moods, yet he does nothing to make you see that he's sorry."

"It's too late to apologize anyway." Aisha replied finally. Surprised, Angkor stared up at Aisha who looked back with fresh tears in her eyes. "I'm not going back. I don't know where we're going to go, but it's not back to the others."

Angkor merely sighed and agreed. If she didn't want to go back, he wouldn't force her. He only hoped that she was able to make peace with herself. The happier she was, he would be able to share in that happiness. "It's almost midnight, mistress." Angkor spoke. "We'll be able to do a long range teleportation from here. Shall I choose some place isolated?"

"Yeah. Yeah, that would be nice." Aisha spoke. Angkor melted into the shadows a moment later, and soon she could feel the familiar surge of power spreading through her. Two dark wings sprouted from her back and covered her seated form. In a whirl of dark energy, she was gone.

… … …

Elsword watched the scene with wide eyes. He was too late. The only thing that ran through his mind at that point was how he had failed to get there on time. As he rushed forward to stop her from leaving, two dark red eyes glared at him from the cyclone of dust and dark power, freezing him to the spot. He could only watch as in the next moment, she vanished forever. "Aisha!"


	2. When All You Need Is Time

A/N: Sorry this took so long! I had a hard time getting this chapter out what with things happening lately and Veteran Commander being released. Next up, CBS and then TT! I can't wait for the revamps most of all though. I gotta fix my RS and EM anyway. But anyway, I'm sure you don't wanna hear about that.

Ah, before I forget! If you ever want to talk to me in Elsword, just PM me and I'll reply any time I'm on! My main is my IP PainofHamel, but if you wanna chat on my RS(KairuAlvan), EM(MysticCage) or DC(flawedCreed), then by all means! Talk to me about anything! I don't bite! Often. Anywho, that's enough of my rambling!

'Til next time

~shine

Disclaimer: I don't own Elsword, just this plot. If I did, there would be shipping contests every week. The prize? 1st prize gets something free from the item mall, as long as it's around 500 kching. 2nd prize gets an accessory and 3rd prize gets 5,000,000 to split between the two.

However, since I don't own Elsword and most likely no one would put this into effect, I guess it's safe to assume it'll never happen. Sorry cute couples everwhere~ c;

~When All You Need Is Time~

When next Aisha opened her eyes, they were in a sort of clearing. Tall trees that seemed to reach up to the sky itself surrounded her on all sides, letting only enough sunlight through the branches to illuminate the small area in which she lay. If a traveler had passed by, perhaps the scene would make her seem like an oddly dressed angel who crash-landed by mistake. But she was no angel, as far as everyone else thought. Aisha frowned. Well, whatever. Let them think what they wanted.

"Ah, you're awake. I was worried it'd be a while longer before you woke." A voice said nearby. Looking over, Aisha found Angkor resting on a small boulder, his wings folded close to him as he waited patiently for the girl to respond. Aisha smiled faintly and nodded. At least he was _kind of_ sincere at times. She suspected that proud demons such as himself would feel the same way if their powers were monopolized by an over emotional 18 year old prodigy.

Aisha didn't respond. Instead she looked around and smiled softly at what she saw. It was peaceful here. No one could or would be able to find her in a place like this. Except maybe elves, but they usually kept to themselves unless they felt you were trespassing upon their land. She took a deep breath and sighed heavily. "I think I might just like it here. Too bad I don't have any of my books. Reading would be perfect for a scene like this." She said after a while. Angkor settled himself on her shoulder as she stood up and brushed grass off her skirt and from her hair. "Now we just need to find the best place to build a cabin or something and get to work."

The search wasn't long; there was another clearing not that far away from where they had landed, and there was a stream close by as well, so water wasn't an issue. Aisha decided to let Angkor take over. She had been camping with the others several times before, but the most she knew how to do was pitch tents and heat up leftovers. She went for a walk to scout out the perimeter, floating high above the ground to get a better view of the surroundings. She didn't wander too far away in any given direction, only far enough to where she could still hear Angkor, though just barely, and that was pretty far considering how loudly he was barking orders.

Aisha's mind wandered for a time, thinking back to all of her past decisions, though she scowled at herself. It wasn't usually like her to get so hung up on such things, but now that she was finally out on her own, she had a lot of time to delve into her thoughts, a change she wouldn't have gotten with Eldweeb being as loud as he was. She hardly even had the chance to enjoy a good read unless he had somehow tired himself out and retired early. Reading by moonlight seemed like a really good idea just then, but she shook her head. She needed to focus.

So, she knew that she had walked down a path that would irrevocably damage her reputation and garner her mistrust without caring much for what people thought. It was her life, so why should they care, right? But then she took the time to examine the reasons _why_ they had turned on her. Of course, it still didn't make much sense or seem very fair. She was still mostly the same person she had been, just with a slightly altered sense of what was cute and little to no patience for Eldork's antics.

Everyone always saw her as the cheerful, loud and arrogant mage who wanted to make something of herself. Those who hadn't heard of her couldn't see how she had been in any way a prodigy. She was weak in their eyes, but she always kept her eyes on the prize and didn't let much get in her way. She supposed that was admirable in some form, and even Hoffman had smiled at her and told her what a good kid she was. Somehow, she felt much worse for betraying that man than she did anyone else.

When she had browsed through all of his various books and tomes, she had noticed a book of dark magic and asked him about it. He didn't seem quite so keen on letting her take it, but with enough bartering and negotiating, she had won him over, but he seemed a bit tense. She had promised him that she wouldn't openly practice anything dangerous, but in the end, she had gone back on her word, unintentional though it may have been. She hadn't seen any other choice; it was either summon the Hell Stone and crush Banthus who had been poised ready to kill Rena, or watch helplessly as the woman who was like an older sister to her was beheaded right before her very eyes. Once Hoffman caught wind of this, he seemed very angry with her, and didn't even acknowledge her since. She wrote apology letters to him regularly, but after a while she had a feeling he didn't even bother to read them. She was a Dark Mage now, and not many people wanted anything to do with them.

Her guilt had spurred her to turn it into strength to move forward, to prove to him and everyone who judged her that she was really one of the good guys. Stella had threatened to arrest her if she didn't leave town immediately, Adell, the leader of the Ponggos was rather lenient up until they recovered the El, then kindly asked her to leave. Feita was a nightmare in and of itself and Velder was much worse. In all her adventured, she felt solidarity only in the fact that Elsword protected her, Chung dared anyone to hurt her and face his wrath, and Rena's kind words were comforting. Raven's hard tone with her wasn't entirely scornful, though she could tell he had some misgivings for traveling with her, and Eve seemed rather nice, though blunt. She didn't associate with anyone more than she needed to, but she rarely talked to Aisha. Whether she felt the girl unapproachable or if she were wary of her, Aisha didn't care to guess. There had been few who continued to show her kindness, and that had been her pillar of strength for a while.

That is, until that crucial section of said pillar broke away.

The argument had been rather silly, she recalled. She had been rather pessimistic, which was very unlike her, and Elsword had scolded her about it, telling her to cheer up or he wouldn't give her his last fruit pie. Food didn't seem to work on Aisha that time, but she appreciated the gesture nonetheless. And then…well, the fight started. It all started with: "Hey, Aisha, can I ask you something?"

"Hm?" She had asked, glancing hat him sidelong. Elsword shifted uncomfortably in his seat before turning to face her. His face was red, she noted and he was biting his lip, which was uncharacteristic of him. If he was that nervous about it, she supposed it must have been serious. "Well, speak up! What do you want?"

He took a deep breath and released it slowly. "I-I don't know how to say it." He said finally after a short while of silence. Aisha narrowed her eyes a bit but remained quiet. She didn't know why her patience was thinning lately, but she didn't have time to be toyed with. She opened her mouth to say something, but he clapped a hand over her mouth and leaned in close, surprising her. He looked serious all the while. "What I mean to say is that I…I think I kind of sorta like somebody."

Her eyes narrowed dangerously. This was it? He was going to talk to her about someone else? Her heart had already been broken once when she lost the trust of the man who had given her the key to her abilities, and now she was being forced to watch while someone else she liked walked out of her reach? "You see," He continued, ignoring her inner plight so effortlessly. He didn't even seem to be looking at her, rather, he was looking through her. Probably to that other girl, whoever the hell it must be. Jealous? Yup. Very. But she didn't really understand why herself. Her confidence crumbled just then, and she thought she would cry. "She's a bit of a nuisance, and she's always badgering me to study, but she's not all bad. She can also be kinda scary—"

Aisha had had enough. Without thinking, her hand raised swiftly and struck him across the face. Shocked beyond words, Elsword stared at a glaring Aisha, who he had no idea why she was angry. Did she know he was talking about her? He supposed she did, but he was sure she had hit him because he had invaded her space for far too long. He could accept that, he supposed. In that case, he deserved it. However, her next words completely through him off. "Why," She spoke softly at first, gritting her teeth so hard he could tell she was suppressing emotion. "Why the hell do you think I want to hear about your goddamn love life?! I've got enough problems on my mind without hearing about some girl!"

"What are you even talking about? I was talking about—"

"Shut up. I don't care whom you were talking about! It's bad enough no matter where we go I get treated like crap, but I really don't need this right now! Not from you." Aisha, for all of her internal struggle, could suppress her emotions well enough, but could not hold back the tears much longer. A small sob escaped her then and she stormed away to throw herself onto her cot. She hadn't eaten that night, and only Rena was allowed to see her. Since then she and Elsword didn't speak, and he didn't stand up for her anymore either. Whatever the reason may be, she didn't know or care. All she knew was that she was on her own.

"And I actually loved that idiot," Aisha sighed softly as she lowered herself onto a branch overlooking the campsite. In the time she had gone scouting, she hadn't realized she had gathered small fruits and berries as well. They floated at her side idly, but she paid them no mind. She wasn't particularly very hungry anyway. She watched as the progress of the cabin progressed much quicker than she was expecting. She supposed that was because of the large amount of demons Angkor had summoned to do his bidding. There had to be at least 50 of them running around, and he flew amongst them, barking orders left and right. Whether or not he sensed her presence, he didn't show it, but she had a feeling he knew she was watching.

Several hours later, the cabin was completed. Aisha was both surprised and amazed. Despite how long she figured it normally would have taken, in only a few hours' time, everything was ready to use. Well…then again, Angkor did conjure up things like the glad for the windows and other things, but that didn't really bother Aisha at all. The sooner, the better she figured. She just wanted to lie down for a while.

Just as she began to float down from her perch in the tree to go check on things, a sudden thought hit her. She had nothing to read. She had left her books back at the inn with the others. She wondered if she would be able to sneak back into town and retrieve them, but thought better of it. If she got caught, then they would surely question her about where she had been. Raven might even give her his famous stern look in hopes of getting her to spill the beans. She sighed. Oh well, she supposed she could just steal something from any local villages.

"Ah, there you are. Have you had a decent look around? We are almost done with the furniture. I was having them put the finishing touched on your bed just now." Angkor said without turning to look at her. Aisha hadn't even set her feet on the ground. Well, he _was_ the one who had given her the powers she now wielded, so she supposed in some way they were linked, and he used said link to sense her. She stared in the direction he was facing and found that a large bed frame was being carried into the cabin, which looked much too large to be inconspicuous. She frowned. Princess or not, this was way too grand for a simple life. She didn't need such luxuries. "Displeased?"

"It's too big. All of this." Aisha gestured at everything going on. The demon slaves, the too large cabin and the bed frame that looked like it would house a king sized mattress…it was all too big. "I just wanted something simple, something that wouldn't draw attention."

"Ah, but therein lies the illusion." Angkor grinned at her. Aisha looked confused. "You see, it only _looks_ big. Once you step inside, everything simplifies. I made the frame of your bed big only because had it been smaller it would have been little more than a cradle on the inside, and we can't have the princess sleeping on something she can barely fit in."

"…Are you implying something?" Aisha's eyes narrowed a fraction.

"Not at all. I wouldn't waste my time with roundabout ways of telling you your butt is too big to fit inside a cradle. Which is true. You're not exactly a child." Angkor remarked coolly. Aisha's eyes lowered dangerously, but she knew better than to try attacking the demon. He always came prepared, and the last time she attacked him, she'd had nightmares for nearly two months. If only she could properly put into words the horrors she'd seen. She shook her head. Now was not the time to relive horrible moments of her past. She'd done enough of that earlier.

Aisha floated round to glance at the progress on other things the slaves were tasked with and found that their ages ranged from very old to little more than nine years old. Some wore blank, dead looks on their faces while others grimaced in constant pain or shivered from extreme cold. One child collapsed to her knees and coughed up blood. Aisha knelt beside the little girl and rubbed her back, feeling sorry for her. "What's your name?" She asked.

"M-melna, miss." The girl answered weakly. Her cough lasted for quite some time, and when she finally recovered, Aisha wiped the blood from the girl's lips and carried her to sit down beneath a tree to rest. Angkor watched her the whole time and came over to rest on Aisha's shoulder.

"You are too kind. That thing needs no compassion." Angkor said, referring to Melna, who clutched her chest painfully. Aisha glared at the demon bat and thought about brushing him off when she continued. "She's a half demon, the sixth daughter of a sixth daughter, killed on her sixth birthday via the wound in her chest." He pointed to the area Melna tried to keep concealed with her hand. Aisha looked confused. "Such a chain isn't uncommon in most families of witches. The sixth child of a witch is born with a much higher affinity for dark magic, and as the chain continues, the magic grows stronger still. Kill the sixth child on their sixth birthday and consume their heart, and your own powers grow depending on how long the chain has lasted."

"Why are you telling me this?" Aisha asked.

"It's common knowledge to us demons, and you, as our princess, need to know these things. Of course, if you were to consume her heart, you'd become something akin to a demon yourself. You would no longer be human." With that said, Angkor flew off, leaving Aisha with the girl who was now openly staring at Aisha with worried eyes.

"Are you going to try and take my heart too?" She asked. Aisha shook her head, which calmed the girl somewhat. "I have to get back to work…"

"Nah, you're good. Stay with me a while. I always wanted a younger sister, anyway." Aisha said, winking at the younger girl. She blushed and leaned back against Aisha's chest. "I wonder how long I'll be out here…"

… … … …

Two years passed after Aisha's disappearance, and the most noticeable change had been Elsword's. He had matured somewhat, Rena noticed, but he had retained his stubbornness. He was a bit more laidback though, and he had taken Rena's teasing tone as his own, often smiling and latching onto someone to play with him for a while.

Raven had lightened up considerably and could be seen smiling rarely. He seemed much more relaxed, to Rena and he engaged in conversation with Eve more openly, though she still seemed uncomfortable in his presence. Maintaining his arm seemed like something he went to her for more often, perhaps as a pretense to get close to her. Rena didn't know, but whenever she teased him about it, he would just blush and glare at her.

Eve herself hadn't changed much. Aside from the newest addition to her line of robot servants, not much else was noteworthy, she frowned. Eve still tried to deny having feelings, but she didn't protest when Rena held her. Before Eve would struggle against her for a while and remark that she had other things to do, but lately Eve seemed much more complacent when Rena embraced her. Eve's face blushed very faintly as well. It was very cute.

Chung had grown up a lot recently as well. He and Elsword were always together, like brothers attached at the hip. Once, when Rena teased him about it, Chung merely remarked that he wouldn't mind having Elsword as a brother. He loved him just like family anyway and he enjoyed the redhead's company more than anything else. His hair had gotten quite long though, and whenever Rena offered to cut it, he shook his head and ran away from her. One of these days…

Rena stared at herself in the mirror for a while. She supposed she could understand why he never wanted her to cut his hair. Rena would certainly miss her hair as well if it were suddenly chopped off. It had taken a long time to get it this long and she'd grown very attached to it. Now that she thought about it, she'd always had long hair. It was sort of her thing, she supposed.

She stared down at the two wing shaped hair clips she and Aisha had picked out for her a little over a year ago. They were rather cheap looking, but very detailed and still very pretty. Aisha had been drawn to them, but after trying them on, realized they looked better on Rena. In a way, it was a memento of her. She sighed. She missed Aisha. She wondered what she was doing and if she was safe. Was she happy? Did she make new friends? Did she even miss them? She supposed she would never know now. From what Elsword had told them a long time ago, it didn't seem like she was ever coming back.

Heaving another sigh, Rena put the hairclips back where she got them. She didn't feel like wearing them today after all. Too many memories were tied to them, and today was not a day she could handle having her thoughts overrun by the violet haired mage who had been like her younger sister and best friend.

A knock on the door broke her from her reverie and in walked Raven, who smiled faintly at Rena. He could understand what she must be feeling. "Today's the day." He said softly. Rena merely nodded and turned back to the mirror. She didn't even bother to look at her reflection. Instead, she looked down at her hands. "Are you gonna be okay?"

"No," Rena answered honestly. Raven knew her well enough to know when she was faking, so she never had to hide anything from him. She never did. "Honestly, I don't really feel all that comfortable celebrating this stupid holiday. It wasn't just us who put down that demon. Aisha helped us do it. If anything, we owe it to her for finding out where the blasted thing was going to be summoned!"

"Yeah, but you know how the townspeople are." Raven said. It wasn't usually like him to go against any of his friends. Rena frowned at him, but he looked away and shrugged. "Then how about we celebrate on our own? We'll gather up the others and go do something of our own. Something for Aisha."

Rena smiled at that idea. "Yeah, let's do that."

After Raven left Rena to continue getting dressed, they walked together to meet with the others in relative silence. She didn't ask how he was doing and if he finally moved on from his past, and he didn't ask if she would let the pain of Aisha's disappearance go. It was a silent sort of treaty between them, one that they enjoyed thoroughly. The answers were really simple to them. Raven had finally moved on and found someone in this life to protect and give his all to, and Rena couldn't easily let something like this go, but did her best. She looked over at Raven, who had his hands in his pockets and whistled something he had heard. Smiling softly at him, she drew nearer to him and linked her arms around his, leaning her head on his shoulder. This didn't shock Raven in the least, in fact he welcomed the contact. He removed his arm from his jacket pocket and let her intertwine her fingers with his. "You know, the others are going to go nuts when they find out." He said.

"I know, I was actually looking forward to their reactions. Especially Elsword's." Rena chuckled softly. He had been guessing for the longest time at who Rena had liked, but never in his wildest dreams did he ever think that she and Raven would be together. "Hey," Rena looked up at Raven as they rounded a corner. "When this is all over, let's go out for a bit. I found this restaurant that you might like."

Raven thought about that. It had been some time before he and Rena had time to themselves, what with all the preparations for having monuments erected in their honor, parades and meetings with important people from all around the continent. Raven just wanted to relax and enjoy some time with his friends and more specifically, Rena. He smiled. "Sure. A moonlight stroll sounds nice." He agreed.

Before they met with the others, Rena disengaged herself from Raven, though grudgingly and they chatted about anything really. From Rena's bow and excellent marksmanship to Raven's hair, his Nasod arm and even his relationships with the others. The first to notice them was Eve, who looked like she was scribbling something in the dirt with a twig. That was certainly uncharacteristic of her, but Rena didn't say anything. Oberon and Ophelia were by her side having an arm wrestling match that Oberon was losing, and her drones circled her head. Chung and Elsword were holding two small paper boats that each held an unlit candle. Eve's own boat lay nearby with Oberon's and Ophelia's. Raven pulled out two small folded pieces of paper from his other jacket pocket and handed them to Elsword.

"Oh, so you guys finally made it! About time. I was getting tired of waiting." Elsword remarked, taking the pieces of paper, scribbling something on them and folding them into a boat-like shape. He handed one each to Raven and Rena as well as a small candle. "Did you remember to bring offerings?"

"Hm? But isn't this sort of ritual for the departed?" Rena asked. Elsword shrugged and waved off her comment. Rena frowned. "But she's not dead. She just left to go off on her own. You said as much when you came back."

"We can only assume she's dead, but that's not the point of this. It's to let her know that we miss her and want her to come back." Elsword said, his tone lowering quite a bit. Rena felt sorry for speaking out almost immediately. "There's runes to make these invisible to anyone but us and Aisha, a weak tracking rune that'll point these in her direction, and to make sure these reach her no matter what."

"Were you planning on following them?" Rena asked. Elsword was silent for a while. Instead of answering her question, he was the first to set his boat afloat, placing a small folded sheet of paper and a ribbon inside it, lit the candle and sent it on its way. Once he was done, he jammed his hands in his pants pockets and walked away without another word. Rena looked to Raven for answers, but he shook his head. She supposed she'd have to leave the subject alone. She'd upset him enough already.

Raven was next, using his Nasod arm to carefully light the candle and placing a small ring and chain inside. Chung's was next, offering another folded piece of paper and a doll sewn in her likeness. Afterwards were Eve's, Oberon's and Ophelia's. Eve's offering was a hairclip that looked like a white flower, while Oberon's and Ophelia's looked to be a collaborative one. Each sported one half of a medal, broken neatly down the middle to fit perfectly.

Rena's own boat held just the two wing hairclips she and Aisha bought together. She set her boat afloat at last, after whispering an elven prayer and placing a soft kiss on it. She watched as they all sailed together and eventually out of sight. She sighed. She supposed she'd have to apologize to Elsword now. That was two women who had left him behind now, both whom he deeply cared for. She could only imagine how much it hurt him to watch Aisha go before he finally had the chance to convey his feelings. Many girls had come into his life since then, but he turned a blind eye to all of them, his eyes ever watchful for the sight of two violet pigtails bound by dark purple ribbons.

She turned back to Raven with a small smile and they walked for a while in silence, holding hands yet again.

… … … …

Aisha, on the other hand, had grown considerably happier in her time away. Of course, there were times when she wished for Rena's company or to talk with Eve about silly things, but she had someone to fill that role now, and she was grateful for them. Melna was like a sister and a daughter to Aisha, who looked after the girl almost obsessively in the first few months that they had been together. Her coughing fits never went away, and being dead, she couldn't exactly die, but Aisha was still worried about Melna regardless and did everything in her power to help the girl.

Angkor didn't looked pleased to have the girl defiling all that he had built for Aisha, but he kept his mouth shut when the princess was near, but he made it clear every time she was out of earshot that if the little girl was out of line even once, he would vaporize her on the spot. He detested half-demons, and made no effort to be as lenient to any others he came across, just because Aisha asked.

Aisha's hair had grown a lot, so much so that she couldn't keep them in the cute pigtails she always sported. Instead, she just let it fall past her hips, bound by the ribbons that had originally held her pigtails. She had finally convinced Angkor to alter her attire as well, though all he had changed was her skirt into shorts and he added more length to the chest strap and connected the sleeves so that it covered a little more skin and looked more like a half-shirt. Aisha, though she didn't like the lazy wave of his wing or the slight changes he made, was grateful nonetheless.

She lay in her bed that day, Melna curled up against her side as she read a book to the girl. She had begun teaching her magic as well, which the girl was ever grateful for. Aisha even began teaching herself herbology and medicine, making medicines to cure Melna's cough and ease the pain in her chest. So far nothing worked for very long, but she was confident she would come up with something.

It had taken a long time to get the girl to call her big sis, although she still blushed when she said it. It was cute, like the girl were talking to someone she really admired and cared for and felt silly in front of them addressing them so formally.

Aisha herself had thought little of the others. If she did, it was only a fleeting thought, before it was buried by her day-to-day routine and thus forgotten. Her regrets, and her nightmares were much worse as a result of her guilt, and her self-loathing had plagued her dreams. Aisha frowned. It usually wasn't like her to fret over such things, but there were certain things that one didn't want to see in any form, and one of them was the look of hurt and betrayal on their friends' faces. That is…if they still considered her a friend.

She hadn't noticed she had gone quiet until she felt Melna tug on her sleeve. "Aisha? Is something wrong?" The little girl asked, fixing Aisha with a worried stare. Aisha couldn't help but blush faintly at the sight. Holy crap she was cute! Aisha smiled at her though and nodded, patting the girl's head with her free hand. Melna didn't look convinced. "Are you thinking about those other people?"

"Huh? Why would I?" Aisha asked. In truth, she was surprised. She hadn't told Melna about her friends, so she didn't know how she could have known about them. She thought to ask, but dismissed it. However she found out didn't matter. She hadn't really had the time to think about them anyway. She shrugged. "I guess I was, in a way. It's been about to years now since I saw them. "

"What happened?" Melna asked. Aisha frowned again. She knew she only wanted to talk about it to get it off of Aisha's mind, but she didn't seem quite so willing to divulge that much of her past just yet. Melna seemed to understand that much and stayed quiet. Instead, she lay there in Aisha's arms and listened to her heartbeat.

Aisha was glad. She loved them and all, but she needed to be alone right now. If she spoke to anyone about them then it'd just bring back the pain she had felt when she first realized she didn't have anyone to count on anymore, and that would have forced her to go back and apologize profusely and beg for forgiveness. What hurt the most, she knew that she'd most certainly have been given it. Perhaps not by all, but by Rena and Chung most of all. Neither of them found it in their hearts to be angry with her for very long.

"I'll tell you some other day." Aisha said, turning her attention back to the book. Her mind wandered, however, and she didn't even pay attention to the words on the page. Sighing, she snapped the book closed and tossed it somewhere beside her head. She didn't bother to look. Instead, she wrapped her other arm around the now sleeping girl beside her and closed her eyes.


	3. When Guilt Takes Its Toll

**A/N: I don't really have much to say about this chapter. It's late because my laptop suddenly crapped out, and I've had one hell of a waking nightmare which manifested itself into a near mental meltdown which, unsurprisingly in my family, went unnoticed. But I'm fine now, and there's no need for happy pills. But gone are the days when one can preach to me that family sticks together without getting a very sarcastic grin a several rude gestures in return.**

'**til nest time!**

**~shine**

Disclaimer: If I owned Elsword, you would know. Believe me, you would know. Be glad that your favorite characters don't suffer mild to extreme sleep deprivation like I have as of late. Huehue.

… … … … …

More Than You Know

~When Guilt Takes Its Toll~

He was tired. In the many sleepless nights that followed the absence of a girl who had given sense to the chaotic whirlwind of thought and rebuke, who had calmed and quelled the shitstorm of self-loathing and dying self-esteem, Elsword had never in his life felt so utterly, totally, undeniably, invariably…alone. He had no one to ease his mind of the rising panic that threatened to rise into his throat and manifest itself as acrid bile when thoughts if his sister's death suddenly struck him at odd moments of the day, leaving him disoriented and reeling, heaving and gasping for breath that came in short, painful gasps. No one to relieve the stress that he would never be good enough, the constant thoughts that he had chosen the wrong path.

No one to wake him on the nights when his dreams turned chaotic; to shove cold water into his hands for him to gulp down hastily and then cling tightly to the calming warmth enough to bruise, smooth, supple skin. He would no longer smell the calming scent of her exotic soap bought off a merchant in Ruben and sparingly used. He would no longer revel in the long moments when he was able to hold that form close to him, a form that fitted to his own almost naturally, as if a lost piece to a puzzle that he could never quite complete without them, and feel no embarrassment. Only the silent implications the gesture itself provided: he has someone to support him, just as he was their pillar of strength.

But now all of that was gone. His stupidity had seen to that.

At first it was believed that he was just in shock. That the pain, though not physical, had affected him to such a degree that he was slowly, though inevitably, starting to accept the reality as it stood. Aisha, _his_ Aisha…was never coming back. It was believed that once he accepted that, he would resume normal sleeping habits again and be all the better for it. How very, very wrong they were.

Normal for him meant nightmares. Soul-shattering, psyche damaging, tear-jerking images of the worst kind that reduced a young man, headstrong, courageous and kind, to tears in a matter of seconds. Normal for him meant waking up to an urgent voice and fruit scented hair. To staring wearily into concerned grape colored eyes and know he would be okay. Normal for him meant suppressing the nigh irresistible urge to take the lovely girl in his arms, lay her down at his side and just _hold_ her. He didn't care for how long. He just didn't want to sleep alone anymore. He didn't want to wake up and feel the dreaded emptiness the next morning would offer him, feel no lithe form atop his own and supply him with warmth so wonderful, so simply divine that he could think of no better place to be.

Yet, he knew what sort of rumors that would start for both of them, and the girl at least already had a measure of infamy trailing behind her. Having her branded a harlot, a whore and a slattern, having false accusations pinned against her for seducing him to fall to the side of darkness was not something he wanted pinned on the girl as well. Neither would he tolerate it, to be perfectly honest. But there was little brute force could get you in the world of adults, and being just a kid then, al that would get him at best, was broken bones.

There was no bit of normalcy to be gained. Nothing that hinted at his supposed salvation, anything that would show that he would not take the fall into what others feared would be an incapacitating, never-ending nightmare of hatred and depression. All that was left behind was a world weary young man who had tried too hard to keep up a façade, a charade crafted for him by a king who only wanted to give his people heroes to celebrate, celebrities who had aided in ridding the kingdom and possibly the world of demons. Rena could see it. Chung, bless his soul, could see it. Raven could see it, and even Eve could see it, which was saying something. When it came to anything "Elsword" he was surprised to get the occasional eyebrow twitch. To get Eve to break her poker face was a feat in and of itself.

As he lay in bed, the remnants of that night's attempt to break an already shattered boy still fresh in his mind, Elsword wiped his eyes of the tears. He sat up, smiling wryly at himself. Perhaps this was his punishment. That his guilt at having chased away Aisha was finally chipping and cracking his will to continue going on like he was, that for the first time in his life, Elsword Sieghart was close to being reduced to a blubbering, apologetic mess for the first time in his life.

Did he feel guilty regarding Aisha? You bet your mother and all your goddamn oxen he did! Did he want to apologize to her? Every goddamn day. Did he want her to come back? Was water still wet? Did a towel grow wetter when it dried? Did Raven ever preach some of the most inhumane ways of getting a man to talk he had learned as his days as a mercenary if he so much as suspected someone was not being wholly truthful? If you answered yes to one or all three of these questions, then you had your goddamn answer! Yes! YES! He was in _**LOVE**_ with the girl for crying out loud! As embarrassing as it was to admit, and as incriminating when Rena was involved, he loved her. Every day spent without her, was like plunging him head first straight into the deepest, most god forsaken hell one could think of.

What really sucked, he mused, was that he had botched his attempt at telling the violet haired girl who had unknowingly become al that was good in his world. He gave a sardonic laugh that fell away into the night air and leaving behind an exhausted boy. He ran a hand through his hair and resting it on his left shoulder tattoo.

Two years had passed since then. Or, more accurately: 2 years, 6 months and 17 days. Or still more accurately to his mind: too long. He was by no means possessive, and neither would he ever deem her as a piece of property, but selfish as it may sound, Elsword honestly needed Aisha right now. Now when his nightmares turned feverish and the panic attacks nearly crippled the boy's ability to breathe, when he frantically searched for that reassuring hand and felt nothing but cold, hard fact bearing down on his windpipe and robbing his brain of oxygen.

It was his fault things had turned out this way, and she was never coming back.


	4. When In Doubt, Wear A Disguise

**A/N: Ah! I'm so sorry for the late updates! I've had to borrow my mother's computer for a short while and while working I would get distracted and then before I know it, my mom has to leave and my computer time goes right out the window…**

**That aside, I wanted to thank the people who took the time to review, and those who come to read this just for…whatever reason you have to wanna read this XD y'all are all awesome and I want you to know how much it means to me! **

**Before I get started, I have a bit of a mini announcement. I got to thinking lately while I was at my friend's house recovering from my mini episode and I thought that…maybe I could/should start writing a prequel to More Than You Know? It's still just a thought, and if anyone thinks it's a good idea, let me know. I'll probably have a preview up some time soon. As for my other previews Repaint Tomorrow and Lamentations of the Heart, they're still being written as of now as well. I wanna take my time with them before I actually post something, because I don't wanna disappoint!**

**P.S: I have a bit of a favor to ask, even though it's kinda silly…you know those super cool/stylish beginning and after dungeon animations the characters do with the really neat quotes? It'd be great if someone could, you know, PM me the ones for RS and VP? And the translations? I've been planning on including them in mini flashbacks, but it kinda defeats the purpose if I don't know what they're saying. –Does not know Korean no Jutsu-**

**Wow this is getting long. As always, reviewers get apple gummies~ on with the story!**

'**Til next time!**

**~shine**

Disclaimer: I don't own Elsword, just this plot and my OC, Melna. I don't plan on making any kind of profit from this, except increasing my writing skill. This fic was written purely for fun and for the enjoyment of those who wish to read it, nothing more.

More Than You Know

~When in Doubt, Wear A Disguise~

A soft sigh escaped her lips as Aisha flopped down on the bed. She was wrapped in a towel, having just gotten out of the bath. Although she still didn't like the fact that the mansion/cabin thing was far too large to live life inconspicuously in the middle of a forest goddess-knows-where, she had to admit that it was rather homey. Her bed was just shy of queen size, able to fit both Aisha and Melna easily. There were extra rooms added only recently so that she would stop tripping over stacks of books on her way to the bathroom in the middle of the night as well. She was rather clumsy when she was grouchy and could hardly see where she was going. Even being a princess of darkness, she didn't always use her newfound powers. She felt it was a waste when she didn't need them, much to Angkor's chagrin.

Even so, she would have been plenty happy with the reverse illusion, however. She wanted a simply life, something that wouldn't draw people to her. This literally screamed "Hey, filthy rich princess right here!" in Aisha's opinion. She huffed. There was nothing she could do, however. The fat bat aimed to please, and he did exceedingly well, but Aisha knew she would feel bad if she told him she wanted something simpler. There was always the danger that he would read her mind, but the bat had been true to his word, demon or not, he was a gentleman if he chose to be. That only made her feel twice as bad, however.

Melna was out gathering herbs and spices at the moment, and the aforementioned purple and white bat too the chance to have a nap, now that the house wasn't full of childish laughter. It was rather lonely when the girl was gone. Aisha didn't have anyone to tease and pull pranks on, and didn't have to keep her senses sharpened in case the smaller girl chose to get back at her somehow. Her worry soared when the girl was gone, however. Melna's coughing fits were rather frequent, and often left the girl short of breath and extremely dizzy, despite Aisha's best efforts to alleviate them. She growled softly, but her anger quickly subsided. There was nothing she could really do about that. The girl was dead, so obviously the wound wouldn't heal. It was pointless to try.

Somehow, she just couldn't buy that. Melna was like a sister and a daughter to her! Even if for a short time, she wanted the girl to feel no discomfort from her wound, wanted her to laughed and play endlessly without having to feel whatever pain must erupt through her tiny chest from time to time and bring up blood.

Melna hadn't grown at all since Aisha knew her, but then again, that was a given. She was dead. Aisha loved her regardless as both a little sister and a daughter, and protected her as such. Of course, there was little she could do against Angkor, but threatening to seal him away again usually did the trick. She knew he didn't fear her, but he didn't want to be bored out of his mind like that again. That at least granted the tiny girl some measure of protection.

That didn't stop her being jealous of the girl sometimes though. Eternal youth and beauty sounded like a blessing sometimes. Aisha wasn't a vain girl, and she would never resort to dark rituals to achieve that much, but she just imagined it would be nice to be with Melna forever and not have to worry about growing old and frail and letting the girl take care of her instead. A bit of growth to her chest would be nice as well, she pouted and patted her chest absently. Speaking of large chests—

Aisha sighed as her thoughts turned to Rena. The older woman was such a doll at times, often giving Aisha advice on how to calm her mind when Elgeek pissed her off or some random stranger said something to Aisha that made her want to be the very witch they claimed her to be. She looked up to her as an older sister and a mother figure, and sometimes found herself wanting to be like her. Minus the large boobs. Sorta. Maybe just a few extra centimeters? Aisha blushed and grumbled at herself for allowing that thought into her mind. She had plenty of reasons to be jealous of Rena, now that she thought about it. She was beautiful, calm, mature, elegant, kind and just an all around better than Aisha. She was just some loudmouthed punk kid who talked a big game, to most people, even though she demonstrated time and again that she knew what she was talking about.

Well, even Rena had a dark side though. Most people didn't see it, but Aisha had; and it made her realize just what sort of person was hiding underneath that calm, cool exterior. Rena's anger was rather explosive at times, you see, so much so that she often screamed at Aisha and Elsword and lectured them for whatever argument they were having. When it came to teammates being disorderly, Rena had a no nonsense attitude and wouldn't tolerate even the tiniest hint of anything outside of friendly teasing.

All in all, Rena was…well, perfect. She was just an amazing woman that no one could help but love instantly. Out of everyone she had left behind, Aisha reckoned that she would miss Rena the most.

She supposed she would miss Eve as well. Though blunt and trying her best to seem unemotional and uncaring, Even Aisha could tell when the robot maiden was lying through her teeth. Deep down, she loved them and Aisha thought she should be a little more honest with herself. She had learned to do the same thing while she was with the others, and that was also why she could say without a doubt that had things been different, she would definitely have loved Eve.

I mean, who wouldn't love such an adorable girl? Eve was rather shy when it came to addressing personal matters, and she found it hard to address others without Oberon or Ophelia nearby, whenever she had the Empress code activated. Whenever she used any of her other two codes, she would constantly fidget and glance over at Aisha, then blush and look away when the girl noticed. In short, Eve was far from the cool, collected empress she made herself out to be. Just thinking about her brought a small giggle from the violet haired mage. If only Aisha had fallen for Eve instead…

Aisha remembered the very first conversation she and eve had ever had. When they were on their way back from the Core, and Eve had found data that she found interesting, she took it upon herself to decipher them. Later the following night, Aisha was coming from Elsword's tent after waking him from a nightmare and easing his mind. That was when Eve first approached her. She had asked Aisha her thoughts as she explained what she was able to gather from each of the three codes: Architecture, Exotic and Electra. Eve hypothesized that Architecture would only allow her to rebuild her kingdom and eventually rule it, but from what she saw, it wasn't a battle code. Exotic seemed geared for battle, but she had her misgivings on installing that particular code. Something felt off about it. Electra didn't really seem like it was much of anything at first. It wasn't entirely a battle ready code, but neither was it one for building. It was just…there, she supposed. After explaining her thoughts on the three codes, she had asked Aisha which one suited her best. She wasn't sure she could install them all at once or even if she could switch as needed like Aisha originally suggested. In the end Aisha had stuck with her original idea, but also given Eve the idea to back up any of her more important data and give it to her drones for safe keeping. That way, she could do what she needed to without risking losing what made Eve…well, Eve.

That was the first time Eve had ever been given an idea she hadn't originally thought about and she smiled brightly at the girl before her. Of course, the data proved too much for her drones at first, but then she decided to create something to help with the storage. A tiara for Architecture, a hairclip for Electra and a compressed space inside her mind for Exotic. There she stored her most precious memories from any of the three codes, memories of Aisha, who had become a very dear friend mostly.

That was also the first time Eve had ever hugged anyone without having to be pushed into them or coaxed gently. Eve had also planted a soft kiss on Aisha's cheek and bade her good night.

Raven on the other hand, was scary. Or rather, he could be nice at times, but he often failed to put others at ease with his presence and that made him unapproachable. For a while, Aisha had the slightest crush on Raven, often comparing his deft, precise blade work with Elsword's brutal, none-too-elegant swordplay. Raven would often come to her side when Elsword was too slow or preoccupied up ahead with Chung. His wild hair made him a bit unattractive for the first week of her crush, but after a while, she saw past that and to the man she had come to really admire.

Raven did his best to atone for the mistakes he made, even though he wasn't always consciously aware that he was doing something bad. He had fought against the Nasod arm of his for a while, but even in his moments of clarity, there was still the shadow of something lingering at the edge of his mind, slowly eating away at him, threatening to turn him into a shell of his former self; into a man of rage, hatred and vengeance.

He didn't protect them out of a need for glory or gratitude. He did it because he didn't want to lose anyone else he cared for, and in the short time he had known the Elgang, they had become something like a second home to him. He wasn't the best at showing his emotions anymore, but he did manage the odd smile here and there, and Aisha had found those rare displays rather cute.

She didn't know what originally made her give up on her infatuation with him, but she soon realized that he too carried ghosts from his past, and only one person could help him ease the memories that came rushing back at times. Only Rena could help him move forward, and that had been reason enough to let go. Though Aisha knew how dangerous it was leaving Raven alone with Rena when he was only just beginning to finally grieve the loss of his comrades and his fiancée, but there was no helping it. Aisha was just a kid, and Raven felt more at ease when he was talking to Rena, not her. Knowing that, she sighed dejectedly and learned to let sleeping dogs lie.

Chung she knew she would definitely miss. He was always so kind to her, respectful caring, sweet and an overall gentleman. His good natured attitude was refreshing at times, having to deal with Elsword's brattiness on a daily basis. He was a bit gullible at times as well, often going along with Elsword and his pranks unwittingly. It didn't help one bit that he was adorable as all hell either. Sometimes Aisha found herself just hugging him tightly and cooing at him. Even if it did embarrass the boy, she couldn't help herself! He was just too goddamn cute!

Chung often stood up for her as well, something Aisha found cool as well. He was the only one that tried to convince Angkor to change her outfit from the very beginning, and onwards from the day the boy first saw the fat bat. She smirked, thinking back to how red his face had been when he first saw her. Elsword couldn't stop staring at first either, but Aisha felt a little disappointed in him at the time. Even before she was literally forced to show more skin than she wanted, he had never once ogled her like he did just then. He didn't even call her cute once!

But…something stopped her from not liking him. Chung was nice and all, but somehow, she still liked Elsword more. It was like he was stuck in her mind no matter what she did to try and erase him. Whenever she thought that she didn't care about him, something tugged at her heart rather painfully and she would involuntarily start to cry. Memories would rush to her mind of all the good times she had with the idiot, and all the times he had complimented her, teased her, comforted her and stood up for her. No matter what she did, she just couldn't get away from him.

Perhaps deep down she really did love the boy. Maybe that was why she had hit him so hard when she found him staring at Camilla, who had come with them to set up a tournament in Altera. Maybe that was also why she had yelled at him like she did and told him to get lost. She was jealous.

Aisha laughed bitterly. "Right, like there was ever a chance for me in the first place. He liked someone else the entire time. I was just fooling myself." Aisha mumbled to herself, turning to her side and frowning. How could she have been so stupid?

xxx X xxx

Elsword frowned as he stared himself in the mirror. He looked a mess. He had to admit, he looked a lot better than most boys his age due to his years fighting for his life and fighting to protect Aisha and the others, but one look at his face and you could tell that he was a wreck. His hair was messier than usual, he had bags under his eyes, he scowled more often than he smiled, and his eyes, which had once been a vibrant ruby color, had lost their luster and now were a dull, muddy red. He had lost the spark that made him the person he used to be. All because he couldn't come clean and tell the girl he had a crush on the simple truth: he wanted her in his life for good. He didn't want to be without her. Not like this.

Perhaps he was being a fool for being so hung up on a girl, but she wasn't just _any_ girl! She was…special. She was unique. Perhaps not one-of-a-kind, but she was the only girl who could calm the raging storm of doubt and self-loathing in his mind. She was the only one he told his dreams and fears to, the only one who had accepted him for who he was.

He realized he hadn't been the best to her, and not a day goes by that he doesn't regret it. He wanted so desperately to hold her close to him as he bared his soul to her yet again and told her just how much of an idiot he had been to treat her the way he did, and how very sorry he was. After all, everyone deserved second chances, right? Though, knowing him, he probably used up every chance she was willing to give him. He sighed, hanging his head. "Aisha…come back. I…need you."

Sweeping a hand through his messy locks, Elsword gritted his teeth as he felt the tears begin to flow. It wasn't weak to cry right? It only meant that you were human, right? Even humans had their moments when they just couldn't go on living like this, right? Like the only good thing in their lives, the only light in their overwhelming darkness was snuffed out long ago? That was how Elsword felt now. Even on the brightest of days, he only saw the world in dull colors and hues. White, puffy clouds were turned fat, gray storm clouds threatening to unload their cargo on the unsuspecting world below. The sun, shining cheerfully upon the people about their business, was hidden behind a mass of dark rain clouds that refused to go away.

Was there nothing that could chase away the clouds? Was there no one who could reignite the flame that had once roared like a mighty inferno? Perhaps not, if he refused to let anyone try, he mused. But there was no one who could. Not even Chung; his best friend could help assuage his fears, his hurt and his broken heart.

No one could, except Aisha.

A knock on the door alerted the 18 year old male and he took a deep breath to steady himself. "It's open." He uttered, just loud enough to be heard. Glancing back, he saw Eve opening the door, a worried expression cracking her once perfect mask of nonchalance. "Oh. Hey, squirt."

"Good evening to you as well. You haven't come down to dinner with us for a while, you know. We're all very worried." Eve said, not trusting herself to take one step into the room. Last time she had, the boy had moved much faster than she believed a human should have and fixed her with a stare that would have made her blood run cold if she were human. While she was not afraid of the boy himself, that look alone could turn even the mightiest demons away. "Please, even if just for a few moments, come down to dinner. I am sure Chung would like that as well."

"Has it really been that long? Huh—it only feels like a week to me." Elsword replied disinterestedly. Truth was, he stopped keeping track. He rarely ate dinner anymore, and if he did he only took a few bites before he lost his appetite. He was getting thinner because of it, he knew that, but he just wasn't that hungry. He sighed.

Eve continued to stare worriedly at the boy as he lost himself in thought yet again. She let out a soft sigh of her own. "I will tell Rena that you are not interested. I am sorry to trouble you." She spoke sadly. Elsword felt a twinge of guilt inside him at her tone. Had it really been that long? Did Eve really miss him as she claimed? She was always getting annoyed with him when he tried to be friendly and comfort her or even just talk to her about things he thought she would find interesting. Those times usually ended up in her getting angry and slapping him. He never imagined Queen of the Deadpan would miss him.

"Hey, Eve." Elsword called, looking over to the door that was open just a crack. One amber colored eye stared back at him. "I'll come, just make sure there's lotsa meat." He gave her a smile he hadn't used in a long time. Even if he didn't feel it, even if he wanted to waste away in his room, he supposed just for one night he could be the person he used to be. He knew they were worried about him, and he at the very least hated upsetting Rena. "Thanks, tiny."

Eve smiled back. "You're welcome, idiot." Eve muttered quietly as she closed the door. She hurried down to the dining room to give the good news. Of course, she knew he was just faking. It had been evident in the sudden change of mood, and the fact that the smile never completely reached his eyes. Even so, it was good to have him back for a time. She was beginning to worry.

X xxx X xxx X

Aisha looked down at the bright red eyes staring up at her own dark violet ones, the owner of said eyes resting her chin on her tummy. The smaller girl was light, her long dark hair falling past her hips unbound. She wore Aisha's old skirt and shirt from when she had decided to change her image. It had to be shrunk several sizes, but it looked nice on the girl. Melna looked adorable in almost anything Aisha could give her to wear.

"Aisha?" Melna finally asked, breaking the silence. Aisha patted the girl's head much like one would pet a cat and almost laughed when the smaller girl started purring. "Has anyone ever told you that you have some of the prettiest eyes?"

Aisha blushed. "W-well yeah. Twice actually. They were old friends of mine from before I met Elfail and the others. At least, I thought they were friends at the time." Aisha shrugged. Melna looked puzzled and Aisha sighed again. "Well kiddo, mama had some enemies long before the world started to turn its back on me. I was better than everyone in my hometown when it came to magic. I was a prodigy and knew more than even the elders and sages. I could break seals that took teams of powerful mages hours with just the snap of a finger. I was the target of envy and jealousy. The friends I had were just waiting for the day when I would fall off my high horse and finally eat dirt, and their wish came true soon enough. My powers were sapped away by a strange ring I found and since then I had to build my power back up again."

"That sounds almost like my mother, except the losing her powers to a magic ring part." Melna mused. Aisha shrugged. It was all in the past. It didn't really matter to her anymore, because since then she had made a lot of really great memories, even if the person she made them with she was currently bitter towards. She had known what it was like to be in love with someone and to be protected, she had been accepted and trusted and…she had been needed. She was grateful to him for showing her those things Sure she wanted more than that, but what could she do? His heart was taken by another.

"Don't you ever wanna go back?" Melna asked, taking note of Aisha's facial expressions. The question caught the Princess off guard and Aisha simply stared at the girl for a little while. "You know, to see how they were doing? To see if they missed you and all that. I bet you'd be in for quite a surprise."

"I guess so." Aisha shrugged, petting the girl's head again. She did have a point, though. Aisha was curious, but at the same time, she didn't think she was ready yet. Sure she missed _them_, even Eldork to some degree, but she wasn't sure she wanted to know what they thought of her now that she had gone just yet. If she had learned anything from her past experience, it was that people weren't all they seemed. Perhaps now that she was gone they were much happier without her. She wasn't so sure she could handle something like that. "Hey, Mel?"

"Yeah?" Melna asked, purring softly as Aisha continued to pet her head.

"You know I love you, right? You're the best friend I could ever have asked for and you really mean a lot to me. I think of you as the little sister I never had, and the daughter I always wanted. So, why not take the next step and make it official? Whaddya say, tiny? Wanna stop playing house and actually be my daughter?" Aisha asked. She didn't have time to react when suddenly she was buffeted by 45 lbs of excited six year old half-demon.

"Yes!" Melna exclaimed, hugging Aisha tighter and tighter and kicking her feet wildly. Aisha couldn't help but smile at the girl as she proceeded to jump and leap around the room excitedly for a while, until she started coughing yet again. Aisha was at her side, her towel forming into her usual outfit as she rushed over to aid the girl.

"Chill out, okay? And take it easy for now. I haven't had the chance to make your medicine yet." Aisha scolded gently, carrying the girl back to the bed and laying her down after placing a soft kiss on her cheek. Melna smiled gratefully at Aisha. "I'll get started now, so that you can take some before you go to bed tonight. I'll even make dinner."

Melna smiled. "Oh, mom! There's something I wanted to show you! They're in the basket with all the herbs, but there were these paper boats with your name on them in the stream near where I normally go. There was stuff in them too, and I put them inside as well."

Aisha blushed at being called mom for the first time and almost crushed the girl in a bear hug, but contained herself, though barely. She nodded in acknowledgement of the girl's surprise though. She supposed she would have to see what they were.

xx X xx X xx

And so, that's how she came to be here now, wearing a disguise and talking to the boy who had broken her heart. He seemed disinterested in seeing her though, and he didn't even venture to guess at who she was or how she had known his name. I mean hell, she wasn't exactly doing a very good job of keeping her identity unknown and he still didn't seem to take the subtle hints she practically threw in his face. Normally she would have given up and threw her hands up in frustration, but something told her not to. He seemed…off somehow. Not at all like the cheerful, happy boy who was in love like she had thought he would be. Did something happen?

Perhaps he had seen her worried look and mistook it for something else, because at that moment he said, "Look, if you gotta go or something, you can. It's not like I'm forcing you to stay." Aisha sighed, shaking her head. It was nice that he was showing concern for others, however misplaced it was, but something about his monotone voice ticked her off. Just how far had he fallen to not really give a shit about anything? Was the fame going to his head and making him jaded or something? Normally celebs were cocky, arrogant and surrounded by groups of followers. He was always alone.

Aisha gritted her teeth and smacked him as hard as she could upside the head with the book she was holding, glaring angrily at the boy. "Look, hotshot, you really need to get your shit together! I don't know what's got you so down, but whatever it is, It can't be so bad that you have to keep beating yourself up about it!" She growled. Elsword looked a bit shocked at her outburst for a moment before he turned his gaze toward something else, completely ignoring everything she had said. Aisha didn't know what pissed her off more, the fact that he was so down about whatever happened, or the fact that he ignored her words. She wanted to keep hitting him until her words got through, but something told her not to.

She supposed it was his posture. He looked so defeated. His head hung, shoulders sagged, and he glared at nothing in particular. Aisha felt bad for hitting him, but she didn't really care that he had been stung by her words. She didn't know or care what was wrong with him, but he wasn't acting like the Elsword she knew. The brat who would always tease her and make her blush at the simplest things, who would bring her food when she skipped meals, would yell at her after giving her a kiss on the cheek to cheer her up or hug her when she cried. He wasn't the confident jokester she had fallen in love with. The cool, serious boy whose rage towards all who dared insult her inspired her to do her best every time. He seemed…defeated somehow. Like all of his strength had gone.

"L-look, I'm sorr—"

"No, I'm sorry. You're right. I'm not much of a tour guide if I get upset at every little thing that reminds me of someone." He smiled softly. Aisha did the same, offering him her hand. "Hm?"

"It's called a handshake, you know. It's not like I'm going to shock your brains out if you take it." Aisha teased, narrowing her eyes a fraction and grinning at the boy. Elsword rolled his eyes and took the hand. However, she did shock him, much to the boy's surprise and annoyance. He gripped the girl's hand tighter until she could feel the palm of her hand heating up, until finally she yelped in pain and yanked her hand away. A small fire rune glowed in the palm of his hand, and it was his turn to grin mischievously at her. "You little brat—"

"Kid, I'm the king when it comes to pranks." Elsword snickered. Aisha, taking that as a challenge, returned it in a silent challenge to the boy to try and out prank her. He gladly accepted it. "Anyway, let's get this show on the road. We got a lot to see before you're at least somewhat familiar with this place. It's pretty huge if you don't know where you're going, and easy to get lost."

"Yeah, I noticed…" Aisha grumbled, remembering the days she had first gone out on her own when they arrived in town. Most trips ended up in her having to defend herself from her attackers, but the tips she learned from Rena and Raven and the throws she learned from Elsword helped a lot. "So, you got a name, Red?"

"It's Elsword. What about you, shortcake?" He shot back evenly. He didn't really like being called that. It was a nickname Aisha would sometimes call him when she was around. He hid his unease, though.

"I could go for some shortcake right about now…" The girl replied softly, patting her stomach. Elsword almost smacked himself. He was asking for her name, not her favorite snack. "But if you must know…just call me Speka for now. It's a nickname my daughter gave me. I don't know what it means though; you'll have to ask her."

Elsword blinked, but shook his head and continued walking. So, a mysterious one, huh? Well, no matter. He was pretty much hiding himself from her as well, so he supposed he couldn't exactly expect her to be strait with him either. Still, whoever married her must be a really lucky man. She was definitely a cute one.

Well, whatever. He wasn't sure what it was about her, but he didn't feel that upset anymore. Today had started out pretty terrible, and something told him it was starting to get better. Now if only he could turn his life around just as easily. He supposed that would happen in time. "All things in moderation" he muttered softly. Words Rena had told him once when he had nearly choked on a fruit pie while Aisha was out getting them drinks with Chung. He wasn't sure if he felt good enough to smile just yet, but he felt kinda good.

_If only Aisha and sis were here…_ he thought, jamming his hands into his pockets. But little did he know, that one of the two already was.


	5. Oi!

**Oi! Listen up!**

Now, as you all know, Authors are people too, so I guess this goes without saying that even we are susceptible to such feelings as hopelessness and depression and such. And this is really what this little notice is about.

Lately, I've been feeling like shit, and it's been affecting my writing mood, and well, I can't really focus on much these days. I'm sure you're all wondering (or not, how the hell am I supposed to know?) what's gotten me down by now. Well, once again, it's family issues.

My mom's been feeling unappreciated and like we just don't give a damn about her, and it's started to affect me as well and, well…let's just say depression is a three headed dragon riding at the head of a wave of stress and other negative feelings I don't think most of you would be comfortable knowing about. Yeah, let's just say I'm pretty messed up in the head. Sound better?

As a result, I'm just…not feeling it. Not really feeling anything anymore. Like I'm stuck in a rut that I've been guilted into falling in even though I know I've done all that I can. I guess this is the result.

Anyway, enough of this heavy talk. I have a small list of songs for you people to listen to. Some of it you might have heard, some of it, maybe not. But I thought it'd be a good distraction from my depressing talk. I'll put it below.

Anyway, thank you all for understanding. And even if you don't thank you anyway. Right now I just…want to be alone until this episode clears. I'll still keep writing and make sure I give you all the best quality work that you deserve. Know that even though I've never met you, each and every one of you, readers and reviewers alike, from the bottom of my heart…thank you. Your support had gotten me to update this much so far, and I ask that you just be patient a little longer.

'Til next time…

~shine

Da stuff I listen to when I write:

I'll make a man out of you (don't ask)

Leo by Ludovico Einaudi

Corridors of Time ~Resurrection

Burn My Dread –Final Battle-

Living with Determination ~Iwatodai Station~

Green Hill Groove

Sea of Stars

Canta Per Me

Romance by Yuki Kajiura

Necro Fantasia (the one with lyrics)

Hikari by Aoi Teshima

Regret by Blue Stahli

ULTRAnumb

Kiara by Bonobo

I am a stone by Demon Hunter

That's it! Enjoy!


	6. If Only For A Time

**A/N: Ehh…not really feeling the best, but I'm at least able to put this mood past me for the time being and belt out a chapter or two. Updates will be kind of slow though, since I got really lazy all of a sudden. I had hoped to get two chapters up at the same time, but I guess this longer than usual chapter will have to do.**

**I'm not sure how much longer this will be, but I hope you stick around until the end! Who knows, I might even have a surprise or two planned or something! Anyway, as always, leave a review and let me know your thoughts!**

**I wanna start doing something special for you guys as well, so if we can make it up to 30 reviews, I'll do a oneshot! And from there, every 5 reviews will get the same thing. I'm not getting greedy or anything, but it's to keep me from being too lazy, and also to see what you guys can come up with in terms of ideas :p**

**Anyway, that's the end of my ramblings.**

'**Til next time!**

**~shine**

Disclaimer: I don't own Elsword, just this plot and my OC, Melna. I don't plan on making any kind of profit from this, except increasing my writing skill. This fic was written purely for fun and for the enjoyment of those who wish to read it, nothing more.

More Than You Know

~If only for a time…~

_Elsword blinked and looked around. How in the world…? He stood in the middle of a foggy forest, one that seemed all too familiar, now that he had a closer look. In front of him were two children, both with flaming red hair. The eldest child, a girl, stopped to look back at her brother, curious as to why he wasn't following after her and laughing. He had tripped and fallen, skinning his knee on an exposed tree root. She smiled kindly at the younger boy and went to go help him._

"_You gotta be more careful, you dork! If you fall and hurt yourself, dad's gonna get mad." The girl said, patting her brother, who was crying, on the head. He didn't seem to hear her, as he was too busy trying to wipe the tears from his eyes and forget the pain in his knee like his sister told him to many times before. He felt arms wrap around his shoulders and warm lips press against his forehead, and his tears were instantly forgotten. Looking up at the older girl, she was smiling. "You're a big boy, Elsword. You're strong, like me! So no more tears, okay? You have to show the pain whose boss or it won't go away."_

"_But it hurts…"_

"_Well duh! So you have to tell the pain to go away! If you don't, then your knee will never get better!" With a bright smile and a thumbs up, the red haired girl extended her hand to the younger boy. "You all ready to go home? I bet mom's making stew again tonight!"_

_Elsword smiled faintly. He remembered this. Elesis had gotten in trouble for taking him out into the forest as far as she did in the first place and got grounded. As she had predicted, their mom did make stew, and Elsword had gotten the most meat in his bowl._

_Eslword chuckled softly. At that time, he had thought that was the best day of his life. He didn't notice that Elesis was smiling at him though, and he sighed. He was beginning to miss his sister more and more now._

_The scene shifted to the day Elesis had to leave for training. He was seven then, and she was 10. Their father had found her someone to teach her in his place while he trained Elsword, and Elesis was doing her best to calm down the boy. He clung to his sister tightly and she smiled at him. "Come on now, what did I tell you before? I told you that you were strong, right?" She spoke in a kind voice. Elsword merely nodded. "Then you have to be strong for me until I get back. I promise I'll write to you, and when I get back, I'll even teach you what I learned!"_

"_P-promise? Do you really promise to write?"_

"_Do you doubt your big sis?" Elesis asked. Elsword shook his head and clung to her tighter. Elesis gave a soft sigh and patted his head. "Elsword, I have to go now. Be strong, okay?" Elsword slowly let her go and hung his head. He didn't even bother to wipe the tears away from his face. Elesis hugged him one last time and whispered something in his ear that he couldn't quite recall, yet the effect was the same on both young and older Elsword: the boy smiled._

_There was another scene shift, and this time, an older Elesis was with him as they trained in Ruben forest. "Now, I want you to learn this one first," Elesis said, smiling at her brother. Elsword, who had a sword in his hands, looked at his sister curiously. "It's actually kind of advanced, really. A bit too advanced for you, but I know you better than most people. I know you can master this move by sunset!"_

_Elsword did a double take. "W-wait! Sunset? That's in a couple hours!" The boy complained. "You're crazy if you think I can do something like that, and I don't even know what the thing you're going to teach me _is_!"_

"_Crazy, huh? Then what if I told you, the technique I'm going to teach you can slice through a tree twice as thick as your skull?" Elesis asked. Elsword looked skeptical. To prove her point, Elesis moved closer to the tree behind her and turned to face it. "Pay attention, kid. Your sis is stronger than you know." And in that moment, she attacked. The result was astonishing to even Elsword: the tree _toppled_ to the ground, a large section of the area she attacked was gone, completely pulverized by just the flat of her blade. Elsword stared, dazed. "Still think I'm crazy? Get started. And don't you dare think about slacking off or quitting._

_Needless to say, Elsword didn't complete the task before him before sunset. Elesis wasn't at all worried. She had thought she was motivating him to try that hard by showing him what she was teaching him he _could_ do if he tried. Instead, she had inadvertently planted the seeds of doubt in him, as well as envy. She frowned, running a hand through her long, flame red hair._

"_Sis? Are you mad?" Elsword asked sheepishly that night as they lay down for the night. Normally they'd have huddled together for warmth since their blankets were thin and the campfire burned out long before daybreak, but Elsword, feeling ashamed, had moved to the other side of the campfire._

"_No, why?" She asked, turning to look over at him. His back was turned to her and Elesis almost sighed again. The least he could do is face her. She shrugged and turned back over. "Well, kind of. But I'm not mad at you, Elsword, so don't worry. You just focus on your training."_

_It took a while for Elsword to answer a quiet, barely audible, "…okay. I'm sorry for disappointing you." Elesis didn't have the time to say she wasn't disappointed in him, because Elsword fell asleep soon after. She simply sighed and rolled over herself._

"_You…made more progress than I did."_

_The scene shifted again, but the events were a little hazy. The only thing Elsword was able to make out was his sister's face. She looked angry that he had been hurt, and then everything faded into darkness—_

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Elsword woke up to worried faces all around him. Speka, Chung, Eve and Rena were there, surrounding him as he tried to sit up. Rena's gentle hand pushed him back down. "Don't try to sit up just yet. The doctor told us that you should rest." She spoke softly. Elsword didn't say anything, but looked around at the people in his room. Why were they here? The last thing he remembered he and Speka were shopping…

"You gave us quite a scare. You suddenly fainted and wouldn't wake up. Chung thought you were dead." Speka said, nodding toward the blushing blond boy who was doing his best to hide it. "Do you know how long you were out for?"

"A few hours?" Elsword spoke, not really understanding what was going on.

"No, you were asleep for about a week starting ten minutes ago." Eve said. Her hair was down and she didn't have her tiara on her head like usual. Instead, her hair fell down her back. She looked quite pretty, though the tight clothing seemed out of place on her. In fact, Elsword didn't think he had ever seen Eve this way. Her hair was always tied up around her ears and she seemed disinterested in most things that concerned him. "Your condition is an odd one, however. You seemed fine when you left."

"Sorry to worry you, I guess." Elsword shrugged, falling back into his usual mood. He closed his eyes and covered his eyes with his left arm. "I just haven't been able to sleep." No one said a thing for a while, and for that, he was glad. He didn't think he could handle telling them, Speka included that he was having terrible nightmares. He didn't even want to remember them. _But that last one…it wasn't a nightmare at all. It was a memory…_he thought.

"You are human, Elsword, not a machine. You must rest so that your health does not deteriorate." Eve replied. It was as close to worrying as she was willing to get. It was clear the boy had no interest in anything anyone wanted to say to him. She was the frist to leave, but not before doing something uncharacteristic of her, no matter what code she had installed: she hugged him. "You are an idiot, but you are also a good friend. And like any good friend, you must keep your health intact so that the people who care about you will be able to see you every day. And besides," With a slight twitch of her lip that slowly became a smile, she added: "You have a duty to me as my very first human friend. I will tolerate no less than your very best effort to stay alive."

"And what if I don't do my best?"

"…I will make you regret your actions. There are ways that the human body cannot and should not bend. Shall I demonstrate them on you now to prove my point?" Elsword didn't know what was scarier, the cold tone of Eve's voice as she made her threat, or the fact that she said it with a broad smile on her face. Either way, he felt all the blood rush from his face and his blood turn cold. "I see that you're contemplating my words. That is good. It means you're beginning on the path to making the right choice." Eve left soon after that. Following her was Rena, who said something about wanting to go play with Eve for a while.

Chung followed last, hugging Elsword as well and apologizing on Eve's behalf. "She's just worried, you know. She was the first one who thought that you might die. Els, take care of yourself, okay?" He asked. Elsword didn't have to look up to know that Chung was close to tears. He had always been a sensitive boy, and he knew his moods all too well. For the first time in a very long while, Elsword felt guilty. He smiled at the boy and nodded. "Do you promise?"

"Chung, you're like a brother to me, not my nanny. Besides, it's not like I have much of a choice, do I?" Elsword shrugged. "Don't worry. I'm sure Rena will have me eating healthy meals everyday from now on and Raven will try to force training on me so I fall asleep like every sane person alive."

"Or I could cast a sleeping spell on you. I found it the other day. It regulates your sleeping patterns until your body is able to do it on its own." Aisha said, snapping the tome she had been reading shut. Elsword wasn't sure he wanted to trust magic, especially someone he had met not long ago, but it sure as hell beat not being able to consume as much meat as his belly could hold.

Yet somehow, that line of thinking felt disrespectful towards Rena, who only wanted to help the boy. He sighed. He knew he was going to regret this. "Actually, I'll just go with my original plan. No offense to you and all, but—"

"I know. We just barely met a little over a week ago. It's only natural you wouldn't trust me." With a faint smile on her face, she opened her tome and went back to reading. Elsword couldn't help but think maybe he should change his mind and let her help him, but instead, he rolled over. "by the way, you kept mumbling in your sleep."

"Really? What was it?" Curious, he glanced at the purple haired girl, but she didn't look back. It was a shame, he mused silently. She had pretty eyes.

"You kept saying 'Ele' or something like that." She shrugged, seeming nonchalant. Inside though, Aisha felt crushed. Perhaps that was the name of the girl he had meant to confess his feelings to. Well, considering how he was behaving now as opposed to back then, something must have gone wrong. She didn't want to know what, but she didn't want her last memory of him to be like this: so lifeless.

Judging by the silence that stretched for the span of minutes after what she had said, Aisha guessed that maybe she should have kept her mouth shut. She inwardly cursed herself and frowned. Things were strained enough as is, and now she forced him to withdraw from her. Smooth. Real fucking smooth. You know, for a genius magician, she really should learn—

"She's my sister." Elsword replied.

—Yeah, that. Wait, what? Looking up from her book, Aisha looked up to find Elsword sitting up now. He was staring at his hands now, perhaps staring a something he was holding in his lap. He held it up and looked at her, a sad smile on his face. "She gave me this the day before she left home. I was injured that time too, but she promised she'd be back. I made her a promise to her that day too. I told her that I'd grow up and become someone she could rely on. That I'd grow strong enough to protect her like she protected me all our lives." Elsword explained. "It's something she called a growth charm. She bought it in the village and was gonna give it to me on my birthday. It's like a good luck charm, but for warriors. It helps them grow stronger and puts them into a frame of mind where all that matters is the task ahead."

_Huh…and I always thought he was a knucklehead that just couldn't stay still._ Aisha thought. "What was your sister like?"

"In a word? Amazing." Elsword smiled softly and allowed himself to get lost in memories. "It was a bit troublesome with her overseeing my training while dad was away, but, she pushed me as hard as she knew I could handle. I learned a lot from her, and she was someone I looked up to. She was my hero."

"You must have really loved her." Aisha spoke. She wasn't entirely sure how to feel. It wasn't like she could blame him for loving his sister above all other girls who could and most likely would have come into his life, but wasn't it wrong to…you know? Well, there wasn't much she could do but support him, she supposed. "But I gotta admit I'm pretty envious of her." She spoke aloud without thinking. Elsword chuckled softly.

"That a fact? And why is that?" He asked. Aisha blushed heavily, and shook her head, making Elsword laugh again. "She isn't the only one I admire, you know. There's plenty of girls I care about."

"But you love her more."

"She's family, and though she'll always have a large portion of my heart, no."

"Then who?"

"…Sorry, but that's as much as I'm willing to tell you right now." With that, Elsword lay back down and rolled over. Sighing to herself, Aisha didn't realize her heart was pounding. _What was I expecting? Ah well. At least it's progress._ Closing her book, Aisha left soon after, leaving Elsword to his thoughts.

Elsword, on the other hand, could only think of one person. _Aisha…_

X

After about a week of bed rest, Elsword was allowed to walk around again. He didn't tell anyone that four of those days he had spent awake all night, while the last three days were spent asleep. Rena prepared a meal for him by the time he managed to come down to breakfast. His clothes had been dried, Raven forced him to bathe and Chung combed and brushed his hair so that he looked more presentable. Eve, who hadn't changed her code during his time asleep, looked him over. When she deemed him fit to join them for breakfast, Elsword sighed. He was starving!

But of course, as he expected, there was hardly any meat in his new diet. Everything he was forced to eat was meant to give him the energy he needed to be active during the day, and while he was grateful to Rena for looking out for him, he wanted meat! A juicy, succulent steak or the biggest hunk of Cockatigle thigh he could ever have laid his eyes on! He wasn't sure what the fuck Avocados were, but they tasted disgusting. And what the fuck was he forced to hear? Leaves?! Oh hell no.

"Rena? Can I—"

"No. Eat your breakfast." She said, not looking up from her own plate which was piled with the same things as his. Raven smirked from behind his glass of tea and Even Eve managed a quiet giggle at the boy's expense. He ate in silence, frowning all the while. When he was finished, Rena collected his plate and gave him a glass of juice and some cookies. "I made them myself. They're not too sweet, I think. I remember you used to complain about things being too sweet."

"I feel like a kid." Elsword grumbled, eating the cookies in silence and drinking his juice. Rena chuckled softly and waited until he was done eating to tell him he had a visitor. Elsword went to see who it was. He gave a small snort. "Hell, I know I have a bit of charm, but sheesh. You'd think you'd be repulsed by my recent mood."

She didn't say anything. Instead, Speka walked over to him and placed a tome in his hands. "We're gonna do some studying. Melna's been dying to meet you." She seemed almost, though. Like she had been pestered by whoever this Melna person was. He wanted to ask who they were, truthfully, but didn't. He would wait and see. He smiled softly. Today would be another adventure, it seemed. He'd been having a lot of those since meeting Speka.

First was obviously the meeting and showing her around town. Afterwards was what Elsword referred to as the 'disappearing pies' incident. That had been his favorite by far. He didn't really condone of stealing, but hell. Free pie! Who could resist that, especially since they were made by the best baker in town? After that was…what was it again? Something to do with being attacked by flying books? He couldn't be too sure, though he was certain it happened recently. There was an odd lump on the back of his head whenever he had to scratch it. Meh.

Elsword chuckled, though. He was having fun for the first time in a while. There was something almost familiar about the girl, and it wasn't just her appearance. Her eyes were the biggest thing that interested them. Whenever they looked at him, they held so much pain and a hidden affection drowned by anger and indifference. She was a complicated one, but he was certain, in time, all things would be revealed.

It wasn't that he didn't _want_ to know, of course, but he had a feeling it was better not to force the issue. He didn't want her screaming his head off or something. Aisha did enough of that and he'd learned how to read her moods in time. Speka though…she was normally so upbeat and cheerful that it was hard to tell what she was thinking. A few times she would slip up and say something rather sad or depressing, but that mood was usually gone when she spotted something else to do. "What are you trying to tell me, I wonder?" He mumbled quietly, tapping his chin with the tome he was forced to hold onto.

"You say something?" Speka asked, looking up at the taller boy in curiosity. Elsword shook his head.

"Just thinking about something else." He said. It was a half truth, he supposed, but he didn't want to think about the particulars. His head hurt enough already from a slight headache. Speka gave him a small frown, but turned her attention back to the road ahead.

It took some time for them to reach their destination, and in that time, Elsword had given up thinking. Instead, he hummed a song he had heard a few blocks back. He remembered the words because his sister would sing it for him when they were younger. He didn't know the name of the song, exactly, but it had something to do with wind.

He almost missed the trail of black hair that whizzed by him at about waist height until a soft "oof" sounded next to him and a childish voice saying, "Mommy!"

"W-what? Melna, what the hell!" Speka blushed as the girl tackled the woman to the ground and cuddled her. Elsword chuckled at the sight. It was also rather cute. Aisha was always great with kids, though she did become a bit of a jerk when they started calling her "big sis" and stuff. She would always stare pointedly at Elsword and expect him to follow their example. Instead he would tease her about her height and pretend he wasn't listening until they were alone again. Was it selfish that he wanted her attention for himself only? "I'm guessing you missed me?"

"You have no idea!" Melna exclaimed, almost dramatically as she buried her face in Speka's stomach. Elsword grinned at the sight and gave a soft laugh. "Who's he? Is he that "insanely hot" friend of yours, mama?"

Elsword blushed heavily while Speka did the same, glaring at the tiny girl who only grinned devilishly up at the two adults. "W-what? Who would think this dork was hot or anything, huh?"

"…Excume me?"

"And besides!" She continued, ignoring the boy. "You'd have to be blind to think that any guy who wears such androgynous clothes could be "insanely hot" or anything of the sort!"

"A-androgynous…?!"

"Sorry, but I don't go for girly boys who wear women's clothes and prance around like they're god's greatest gift to women. No sir!"

"Girly…boy?" By now, several people who were watching the scene were giggling uncontrollably, while Elsword tried to wrap his head around the insults directed his way. Was his clothing style really that bad? He thought it was rather cool and modern. Sort of like samurai-meets-wild-west with a touch of AWESOME. He frowned. Well shit, if she thought that poorly of his clothing, she could have just said so. Not that wearing nothing but purple and black did her much justice either. It was close to the middle of summer, all that black would have anyone sweating up a storm by now!

Elsword shrugged. Well, whatever. If that's what she thought, then there was no point getting upset about it. He'd get her back for it eventually. He wasn't really in the mood to get upset over some flat-chested girl's opinion of his awesome style, anyway. Instead, he just laughed too. _Oh, you are so screwed when this is all over…_

Aisha felt a shiver run down her spine as she looked up at the red head, who seemed unperturbed by her outburst. _…I'm screwed, aren't I?_ "W-well anyway, Elsword, this is my daughter, Melna. Melna, this is my…friend Elsword."

"You hesitated." Melna and Elsword replied in unison. Melna poked her mother's cheek and grinned devilishly, but Elsword was curious. Why would she? She had just made it clear that she didn't like him or his clothes in any way, shape or form anyway. Which was such a shame. He was actually starting to like her. There was something mysterious about her, and a wave of nostalgia hit him every time they were together. Like just being with her was the same as being with Aisha. And her eyes! Why was he so interested in the looks she gave him? Was there something he should have picked up on by now? He grumbled. This was all so confusing!

"Come on, admit it!" Melna's voice brought him from his thoughts, and he watched as the younger girl's grin spread as she whispered something in Speka's ear. He wasn't sure what it was, but the older girl's face lit up like a torch and he imagined smoke would be coming from her ears right about now. "Well?"

"I-It's none of your business, brat!" She pouted, pushing the girl off so she could finally stand up. Elsword noticed the blush and became curious. Just what did that little girl say? It was times like this he wished he knew telepathy. Then again, a part of him was glad he didn't. Where was the fun in knowing what someone was thinking of you when you just met them? Or finding out what interested you about the person by digging into their thoughts? Sure it was more tedious to find things out the normal way, but that was an adventure within itself, and he loved adventures. "Yo! You comin' or not?"

"Hm? Where to?" Elsword asked, clearing his mind of thought and looking up at the still pouting girl. He couldn't help but chuckle slightly at the sight. She was like a kid sometimes, when he thought about it. The way she would pout and frown at him when he teased her (whenever he was in the mood to, at least), how she would throw tantrums when he stole her book so she would pay attention to him. She was a lot like Aisha, now that he thought about it. But…wasn't it wrong to compare one person to another?

He didn't hear what it was that she wanted, but he agreed to go anyway. He didn't really care where it was that they went, honestly. As long as she was there, it was bound to be at least kind of fun. Unless they went to the Royal Palace. There was no way in hell he was going near there.

He felt a small hand slide inside his own as they walked, and looked down to find Melna beside him, grinning up at him. He couldn't help but smile back. She was a rather pretty child. "She likes you, you know." The girl spoke. Elsword blinked. Well, that was rather straightforward. "Spending time with you was what she really needed. I think she's much happier than I've seen her. At least, happier than she was back home."

"Um…what?"

"You're doing her a lot of good. You should let her do the same." Melna replied. She shook her head when Elsword opened his mouth to say something. "Sorry, I can't tell you more than I already have. All I know is, she has a broken heart over what happened a long time ago with a boy she loved. You could help her heal, if you let her help you as well."

"I see. You're a lot wiser than a child should be."

"That's because I'm also part demon. We tend to mature faster." Melna grinned. Elsword's eyes narrowed slightly. "I'll explain later. For now, just pretend I didn't say anything. And please…help my mom. If you don't, you'll never see her again." With that said, they both fell silent. Elsword didn't know what to make of those words. Was she in some kind of trouble? And the thought of her liking him was a bit flattering, but…he wasn't sure he could…or wanted to…return her feelings. Sure she was fun to hang out with, but…

He smiled faintly. "The question isn't can I let her go, it's if I want to." He whispered to himself. It was quite a tough question indeed. Melna remained silent. She'd heard what he had said and smiled to herself. It wasn't the step forward she'd been hoping for, but it was a start.

X xx X xx X xx X

When they arrived at their destination, Elsword couldn't say he was much surprised. The hotel was rather high class, with an aura that just screamed elegance. "He'd never been inside, of course. There was never any reason to go in, even though a lot of nobles from all over offered him their daughters' hands in marriage. Most guys would probably have jumped at the chance, but not him. Even he had standards and morals.

Aisha looked back at the boy with a slight smirk. "Surprised?"

He shrugged. "Not really. You don't seem the type to go for anything less than classy." He deadpanned. Pouting, she turned back around and stormed inside, past the receptionist, and up the flight of stairs. Elsword and Melna followed in silence, the little girl still holding onto his hand.

As he imagined, the room, like much of everything else in the hotel, was grand. A bed large enough to fit all three of them stood neatly made with a pile of fresh towels on it, the sheets likely made of silk or some other expensive fabric. The pillows looked like puffy white clouds in contrast to the sheets, which were sky blue, like much of everything else.

Melna dove right onto the bed and rolled around, humming happily as she did so, while Elsword took a look around. Their bags were bundled together in one corner, with a stack of books as thick as a fist lining the wall leading to the dresser. Stacked neatly, they would make three rows, he estimated. There were quite a lot of books there.

_Why am I here?_ He wondered as he ventured around the room, looking at this and that. He breathed a soft sigh as he came back to the bed and lay down on it. It was actually really comfortable. It was soft, almost like he would sink into it if he weren't careful. He wouldn't mind. It'd be like being smothered in a fluffy cloud, and fluffy clouds were comfortable as shit, unlike the lumpy thing he was forced to sleep on every night.

He closed his eyes, thinking back on the good days. The days long past, when he and his sister were together; days when the world made sense, and he didn't have an aching void in his heart.

On the one hand, there was a mysterious girl who interested him greatly, though he tried his best not to show it. She was smart, weird, and fun to be around, energetic, spunky and rather cute when he managed to tease her. She had beautiful grape colored eyes, a smile that made his heart beat faster and she always tried to cheer him up.

On the other hand, there were the two girls closest to his heart that he had ever allowed anyone. The first being his sister, but that was a given. The other was a spunky, loudmouthed tomboy mage who always hit him over the head when he would get snarky with her. She was brilliant when it came to anything magic related and she always taught him the things he didn't know. She wasn't very open about her past though, but he didn't mind. He didn't care what circumstances brought her into his life. He was glad that they happened. He wouldn't have met her and fallen in love if those things hadn't occurred.

He sighed. "I don't want to think anymore." He thought aloud, keeping his voice low. His attention was caught by the shifting of the bed beside him and, looking over; he was finally able to see the girl without her darn hat. Her hair was longer than he thought it'd be. It fell just past her ribs in a wave of violet, and he could see the concern in her eyes. He smiled slightly. Maybe…if only for a time…he should let his heart decide for him. He wasn't a deep thinker usually, anyway.

I mean, here was a girl trying to help him move on from his pain, and he was being stubborn and clinging to it. Will he always think it was his fault? Well yeah. But, why let it control his life? "Hey," Elsword began, suddenly becoming very nervous. He could tell her had her attention now as well. Even Melna stopped what she was doing to hear what he had to say. "If you're not busy tomorrow, let's hang out."

"As friends, I assume?" She asked. He could swear there was a hint of disappointment in her voice as she said that. Determined to surprise her, he simply grinned and grabbed her hand, locking their fingers together. She blushed.

"I'm pretty sure friends don't hold hands like this. Nor would you want to suddenly pinch your friend's cheek for being so adorable. Or…" Growing suddenly bold, Elsword felt for a moment that he was becoming his old self again. He liked the feeling, fleeting though it was. He leaned forward so that their foreheads were touching and smirked when her blush darkened and spread across her entire face. Slowly angling their faces inch by inch, he didn't stop until their lips were but a breath apart. "Should I become a thief and steal something no man has ever had the honor of taking?"

Elsword chuckled then, leaning back and tossing his head back. Aisha growled at the boy, but inwardly, she had noticed it too. That teasing just now…it was familiar. He used that line a lot when they were always together. She still remembered the night their lips actually brushed lightly against each other. Was she making progress? He did laugh a bit more now too.

"…sure. I'd like that." She said finally. And they lay like that or a while, unaware that they still held hands. They spent the night like that, each within their own thoughts, and eventually, they fell asleep, Melna between them for warmth.

_If only for a time_, they both thought, each smiling softly in their dreams. _I want to make you happy._


End file.
